


Then, Now and Forever

by anonymousheroine



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Fix-It, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 13:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18638719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymousheroine/pseuds/anonymousheroine
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS AHEAD, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT!!!!!Clint asks if he can be the one to return the Soul Stone. This is what happens when he gets there...





	Then, Now and Forever

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place in an AU where Clint doesn't have a family or a wife. Natasha was his world and...yeah. 
> 
> My profile pic is Clintasha, what do you expect T T I couldn't live with that that ending...so I wrote my own.

Before Steve could carry out his mission to return the stones to their rightful places, Clint rushed to the platform, shouting, "wait!"

Steve stopped, looking at Clint curiously. Clint was wearing the same time travel gear Steve was. 

As Clint caught his breath, he said, "let me return the Soul Stone."

With those words, Clint put out his hand. Steve smiled at the gesture, replying, "you want to be the one to bring her body back."

"One of us has to," Clint looked up at Steve, his eyes tired from mourning. "She needs a proper burial."

Steve nodded, thinking about how he wouldn't be able to do that, given what he had in mind. So, he pulled the Soul Stone from the bag, and handed it to Clint. 

"Tell her I miss her," Steve said as he looked Clint right in the eye. 

Clint opened his mouth to say a snarky remark like 'tell her yourself' but...he knew. He had known Steve for a while now and...the look on his eyes said he wasn't going to come back. 

That's why Clint came in and gave Steve a hug, then whispered in his ear, "take care of yourself."

Steve hugged him back and replied, "don't do anything I wouldn't."

Clint smirked at that, "I won't let you down."

Steve signaled to Bruce to start the machine and Bruce began the process. Clint and Steve stood across from one another, holding eye contact. It was a soft moment of silence between colleagues as Bruce sent them both into the quantum realm. 

They parted ways and Clint shot out into 2014, right on Vormir, moments after Natasha sacrificed herself for him. He remembered it so vividly…and now he was back. 

Taking the trek back up the mountain, he had to return the Soul Stone back first, then he would grab Natasha. He wanted to delay seeing her dead for just a moment longer. It pained him, the image fresh in his mind. 

It should've been him. He should've held on stronger. He should've… 

The thoughts ate away at him as he walked up the mountain, alone this time. It was harder alone. When he was with Nat, everything was easier. Missions were easier. Mundane things were easier. Her smile helped. She helped. She...was everything. 

Clint was glad, for a brief moment, to be alone. Because he didn't want anyone to see his tears. He hadn't cried since he lost her. He didn't have the time to. But here, on the hike, he cried. He let it out as he clutched the Soul Stone in his hand. 

He was alone in this world now. He lost everything. 

Even though the world is back to some kind of normal, his world was shattered. He didn't want to be selfish in front of his friends, so he held it in. He didn't need to hold face here though. 

So, Clint cried for Natasha, her name leaving his lips as he struggled to get up the mountain alone. He sobbed, clutching his heart. He mourned, and mourned, thinking about his life without her. 

He bit his lip, thinking about how he never got to tell her how he felt. 

"I love you," he thought back to what she whispered under her breath as she dropped to her death. 

She thought he couldn't hear her, but he did. He heard her, loud and clear. 

"I love you, Clint," she said as she fell like an angel who had lost her wings. And he couldn't catch her. 

Natasha's words echoed back and forth in his mind as he clung desperately to the side of the mountain. It was cold without her here. 

When he finally got to the top of the mountain, he sat down on the floor as Red Skull appeared, who looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Why are you back?" Red Skull asked, walking over to Clint. 

Clint put out his hand, showing him the stone, "I'm here to give it back. We won."

He choked as those words came out of his mouth because...even though it was true, Clint still lost the one person he loved the most. 

"Give it back?" Red Skull reiterated. "You don't just give back the Soul Stone."

Clint got up to face him, saying, "I need to, or else the timeline will get fucked."

Red Skull blinked a few times, trying to figure out what to do. No one has ever given back the Soul Stone. Technically, this was the first time anyone had come and successfully taken the Soul Stone, completing the trial of a loved one's soul for the stone. 

However, he had no idea how one would give back the stone. Why would anyone give it back? 

"Hello?" Clint raised his eyebrow, "are you going to take it or what?"

"You cannot give it back," Red Skull replied, turning away. "It's rightfully yours."

"Well, I don't want it," Clint whipped around with the stone in his hand, shouting, "will someone please take it back!"

"You sacrificed the person you loved most for the stone to have its power," Red Skull restated, "why would you give it back?" 

"Because it's over now," Clint announced, tears falling down his eyes again, "Nat's dead, the world's saved and I just want to get her body back to my time so I can bury her. But I can't do that if you don't take back the fucking stone, so just take it!" 

Voices began whispering in Red Skull's ears. It was the stone. It was speaking to him. His eyes widened at its words. He made eye contact with Clint, who looked back confused.

"What is it saying?" Clint asked him.

"Are you sure you want to seal the stone once again?" Red Skull began to walk towards the edge of the cliff. He stared over the edge, at Natasha's dead body. 

Clint followed him, shouting, "isn't that what I've been trying to do! Please, just take it back!"

Hovering near the cliff, Clint shoved the stone at Red Skull. Red Skull stepped back and said, turning back towards Natasha, "to return the Soul Stone, you must go with it."

"Excuse me?" Clint glanced back at Red Skull, who looked dead serious.

"It requires a soul exchange, as it did before," he clarifies, "you must go with it. Is that something you're willing to do?"

Clint looked over the edge, at Natasha's body. The tears fell down his eyes again as he said, "It was supposed to be me, not her. So why wouldn't it be me now? I have nothing else to lose anymore. I've lost everything already."

Seeing her body made his stomach churn and he held back a sob, forcing him to look away. If this is what he needed to do, it might just be the easiest thing he'd ever done. 

"Then, you know what you must do," Red Skull walked away from the edge, giving him space. "It ends with you."

"No," Clint said back to him, "this isn't where it ends. It's where it starts. The world has been renewed. It doesn't need me anymore. This is my ending, not theirs. I ended when she did." 

Clint looked at the golden stone in his hand and then gripped it tighter. 

"It was always her," Clint breathed out as he closed his eyes, stepping off the cliff. 

Falling, falling, falling. 

It was slow, so slow. 

So, as he fell, he let out his love for Natasha. His tears floated in the air as he said, "I love you, Nat. Then, now and forever."

With that, a soft orange light emit from his hand and he opened it. The Soul Stone glowed brightly as the specks of light began to increase. Soon, the light filled Clint's vision as lightning striked all around him. He had always wanted to go out with a bang. 

This was the end… 

…

…

…

Just not his. 

A warm feeling enveloped him as he opened his eyes. The world around him was a burnt orange color, as if the planet had been enveloped in sunlight. 

Clint woke up in the same pond he had before, except this time, there was no stone in his hand. Confusion overcame him. He brushed his hair back, looking around. 

Then, he saw her. 

Clint rubbed his eyes. Again, and again, and again. 

In the distance, a figure began walking towards him. 

No, not walking,  _ running _ .

He got up from the pond, his eyes wide, as he saw Natasha run up to him. 

Natasha's hair caught every bit of sunlight as she crashed into Clint's arms, hugging him tightly. The tears were uncontrollable at this point. They were both crying more than they had ever before.

"I heard you," she cried out, "I followed your voice. Your 'I love you'."

"H-How?" Clint sobbed into her shoulder, "how did you hear me?"

"Because the stone didn't need her soul anymore," Red Skull appeared next to them, "your soul was bound to the stone, Clint, which is why you had to take the fall. When your soul severed its bond when the lightning struck, the stone no longer needed Natasha's soul sacrifice, so it brought her back. It was not her time to die, after all." 

"I'm here, Clint," Natasha said, her voice like music to his ears. "Did we win?"

"Yeah, Nat," he replied, pressing his forehead against her forehead, "thanks to you."

"That's a relief," she grinned that beautiful grin of hers, "did you miss me?" 

"Miss you?" He scoffed then responded, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said back. "I always have. Then, now and forever."

Natasha rested her hand on Clint's cheek and wiped the tears from his eyes. He smiled at her gentle touch, "it just had to be you, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," Natasha laughed, pulling Clint in for a much needed kiss. 

They kissed each other as the light of the Soul Stone illuminated them. The stone could now rest peacefully, knowing that the Soul Cycle was complete. For two people, bounded by soul, have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their lives for the universe's. 

The universe was now back to the way it should be, where Clint and Natasha are together and happy. 

**Author's Note:**

> The end! Hope you enjoyed :) 
> 
> Inspired by this Tumblr post: https://karatam.tumblr.com/post/184496980305/alternative-black-widow-movie


End file.
